Click here to view a larger version.) / " title="ABOVE, THE STATE-BY-STATE UNEMPLOYMENT picture in May. The darker-colored states have higher jobless rates. (Click here to view a larger version.) /"/>PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island continued to have the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the nation last month, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Rhode Island’s jobless rate fell for the third consecutive month in May, ticking down two-tenths of a percentage point to 12.3 percent.
Rhode Island did post the second-biggest month-over-month percentage increase in employment among the states in May, however, with nonfarm payrolls statewide growing by 3,200, or 0.7 percent, from April.
Less happily, Rhode Island’s year-over-year decrease in employment was also second-largest, with the number of jobs shrinking 1.9 percent from May 2009. The state lost 8,800 jobs over the 12-month period, shrinking the state’s payrolls to 451,800.
In Nevada, unemployment hit 14 percent for the first time in May – the highest rate in the nation and the first time since April 2006 that a state other than Michigan posted the worst joblessness figure. Michigan’s rate in May was 13.6 percent, followed by California at 12.4 percent.
In all, jobless rates fell in 12 states and were unchanged in the remaining 38 from April to May. The national jobless rose to 9.7 percent, down two-tenths of a point.
Rhode Island remained an outlier in the region in May, as the Northeast’s overall jobless rate held at 8.9 percent last month, the lowest in the nation.
